New Deeds for New Needs: Civil Society Action Against Poverty in Sweden

Abstract

The emergence of new types and new levels of poverty in Sweden has spurred civil society organizations to take a more active role in domestic relief work. Their work is not least directed toward groups of poor with limited access to public welfare in Sweden, in most cases because they are not Swedish citizens. The arrival of groups like the vulnerable EU citizens and undocumented refugees has created a situation where civil society provides emergency relief for groups not eligible for long-term relief from the public sector. A new division of responsibility between civil society and the public sector is therefore being formed, and this division can be explained in terms of rights; the aid organizations are guided by the principles of human rights, while the public sector functions primarily according to social citizenship rights. This article documents the work of the Swedish City Missions, a large aid organization that has become an important actor in poverty relief work in Sweden. A never before conducted survey of 137,000 interventions performed by the Swedish City Missions gives an entirely new insight into the significance of civil society organizations in combating new and old types of poverty in Sweden. Which groups receive which types of aid and what does that tell us about the roles of civil society and the public sector in a rights perspective? The findings show that civil society organizations like the City Missions play a far from marginal role in the Swedish welfare state.